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A gunman wielding an automatic weapon killed six people and barricaded himself inside a supermarket with hostages in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday, before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.
At least 14 people were wounded and taken to hospital.
The 58-year-old attacker was not named by police, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was born in Russia, as authorities worked to piece together a motive for the violence.
The mass shooting — unheard of in wartime Kyiv following Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — took place in a busy central district of the city, outside an apartment block and a nearby shopping center, leaving bodies on a crowded street as bystanders fled for safety.
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An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw victims’ bodies in the street covered with emergency blankets before they were taken away.
“The assailant has been neutralized. He had taken hostages and, tragically, killed one of them. He also murdered four people on the street. Another woman died in the hospital due to severe injuries,” Zelenskyy said.
“It has been established that the attacker set fire to an apartment before taking to the streets with a weapon,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted online. “He had a prior criminal record, had lived in the Donetsk region (in eastern Ukraine) for a long period, and was born in Russia.”
Ukraine’s special tactical police units stormed the convenience store after attempts to contact the gunman with a negotiator failed, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
The hostages were supermarket customers and staff.
“We tried to persuade him, knowing that there was likely a wounded person inside. We even offered to bring in tourniquets to stop the bleeding, but he did not respond,” Klymenko said. “Consequently, the order was given to neutralize him.”
The minister said the gunman had a valid weapon’s permit.
During the 40-minute standoff, a female negotiator wearing body armor and standing behind an armored vehicle used a loudspeaker to call out to the assailant, urging him: “The people are not to blame for this. Please let them go, and we will talk with you.”
Ukraine’s security service, or SBU, described the killings as an act of terrorism.
The shooting took place in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, where several residents said they recognized the gunman.
“I knew him by sight. He seemed like an educated, refined man. You’d never guess he was some kind of criminal,” said 75-year-old Hanna Kulyk, who lived in the same apartment block as the attacker.
“He didn’t socialize much with people — just a greeting and he’d be on his way,” she said. “He lived alone.”
Armed men have reportedly abducted no fewer than 14 passengers, many of them believed to be candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, along the Makurdi–Otukpo road in Benue State.
The victims were said to be travelling from Makurdi to Otukpo Local Government Area, LGA, on Wednesday evening for their scheduled examination when the incident occurred.
The ill-fated vehicle, an 18-seater Benue Links bus, was ambushed by the gunmen a few kilometres from Otukpo town at about 7 p.m.
A source in the area disclosed that the attackers stopped the bus on the highway and forced the passengers into a nearby forest.
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“The passengers were all marched into the forest. From what we gathered, most of them were students coming to Otukpo to write JAMB exams,” the source said.
He informed that the bus was fully loaded at the time of the attack, “but about four persons, including the driver, managed to escape.
“As we speak, the police and other security personnel have commenced a search operation to rescue the victims and track down the criminals,” he said.
Confirming the incident, the Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr Ifeanyi Emenari, said he had mobilised tactical teams and Divisional Police Officers, DPOs, to the area to lead rescue efforts.
“I am in Otukpo now. All my team and DPOs are in the bush, and I am personally heading the operation,” he said.
“What happened was that a Benue Links bus carrying passengers to Otukpo was stopped and attacked by hoodlums. Fourteen passengers were kidnapped, while one managed to escape,” the commissioner added.
He, however, expressed concern over the circumstances surrounding the journey, noting that Benue Links does not operate night services.
“Benue Links, as a policy, does not usually travel at night. From the information I have, the company had already closed for the day, but the driver, for reasons we are still trying to ascertain, picked up passengers along the road. That is how the incident happened,” Emenari stated.
